Gaming – HeadStuffhttps://www.headstuff.org
Sat, 25 May 2019 10:00:12 +0000en-GBhourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.103 of the Most Bizarre Achievements in Gaminghttps://www.headstuff.org/entertainment/gaming/3-most-bizarre-achievements-gaming/
https://www.headstuff.org/entertainment/gaming/3-most-bizarre-achievements-gaming/#respondThu, 23 May 2019 08:10:55 +0000https://www.headstuff.org/?p=76930In-game achievements have become increasingly popular over the past few years. These days, it’s almost impossible to find a PlayStation or Xbox game that doesn’t feature a few dozen, at least. However, that doesn’t mean that gamers are limited to these; in fact, many gamers have gone above and beyond to invent, and perfect, a […]

]]>In-game achievements have become increasingly popular over the past few years. These days, it’s almost impossible to find a PlayStation or Xbox game that doesn’t feature a few dozen, at least. However, that doesn’t mean that gamers are limited to these; in fact, many gamers have gone above and beyond to invent, and perfect, a variety of different creative achievements. Many of these might have been things that the original developers never intended, while others are just plain ridiculous. Here are three of the strangest.

Beating Dark Souls With A Rock Band Guitar

Completing any of the Dark Souls games is notoriously difficult, and can often be seen as an accomplishment in and of itself. Dark Souls, in particular, is infamous for causing many of us to break our controller. That may be why Benjamin “Bearzly” Gwin decided to use a Rock Band controller instead. Dubbed the Guitar Souls run, Gwin fought his way through the entire game by custom-mapping his controller input to his Xbox 360.

The playthrough took 11 hours, and there were some incredibly difficult sections to navigate through; many Dark Souls players wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Gwin took quite some time getting through Sen’s Fortress and bosses Ornstein and Smoug. However, many players might be surprised to learn that final boss Gwyn, Lord of Cinder, was surprisingly easy to beat, needing only three attempts. Many of us wouldn’t be able to do that with a regular controller.

Bearzly did have a strategy going in; by fighting almost completely naked, he was able to increase his speed while using a halberd to maximise his reach. This isn’t the first time that the name Benjamin “Bearzly” Gwin has popped up alongside Dark Souls; he was previously known for beating the game one-handed. He’s also announced that he plans on beating Dark Souls 2 with a Rock Band controller next.

Speed-Running Diablo 2 Without Ever Attacking

The Diablo franchise isn’t exactly known for its pacifism. With demons and other hell-spawn being unleashed onto the world, alongside the literal Devil, it’s not something anybody would believe that you could finish without ever attacking anything. This is something that DrCliche managed to do, while also doing so as a Speed-run. There was one slight caveat to DrCliche’s playthrough, however; he’d equipped his character with thorn-covered armor, so that any time an enemy hit him, the armor would strike back.

With the rules that he put in place, though, as long as he didn’t intentionally attack any NPCs or enemies, he’d be in the clear. This approach worked for the majority of the 7 hour, 41 minute playthrough. One hiccup came about in the game in the form of Diablo 2’s fourth act boss Lord De Seis; De Seis is both unskippable and uses only long-range attacks. Speaking to Polygon, DrCliche explained how he was able to get around this, saying:
“But De Seis’s elemental attacks do proc Chilling Armor, and at level 30, with Cold Mastery, 6 points in Chilling Armor, and a +2 staff, you do damage quickly and consistently.”

Creating A RollerCoaster Tycoon Maze That Takes Centuries To Escape

The vast majority of us love a construction and management simulator. Spending a considerable amount of time building the park of our dreams is something that’s oddly addictive. However, there are some of us that have more of a dystopian outlook. How else would you explain the dozens of different ways that players have figured out to torture their unwitting customers? Out of these, there’s one effort that stands out in particular.

RogueLeader23 decided to build the longest possible hedge maze in RollerCoaster Tycoon to see how long it would take visitors to find their way out. Titled Just a Walk in the Park, the experiment followed guest Beverly P. as she wound her way through a number of checkpoints to find the exit. Guests in the game are technically immortal, with RogueLeader23 following poor old Beverly’s progress across several decades. During this time, a few other guests were admitted to the RollerCoaster Tycoon hell-maze, with Beverly P. never finding the exit. The first guest to do so, one Regina F. finally found the exit after a whopping 263 years. Poor Beverley is still looking through the maze for the next Checkpoint.

]]>https://www.headstuff.org/entertainment/gaming/3-most-bizarre-achievements-gaming/feed/0Why Aren’t There More Women in the Gaming Industry?https://www.headstuff.org/entertainment/gaming/more-women-gaming-industry/
https://www.headstuff.org/entertainment/gaming/more-women-gaming-industry/#respondTue, 21 May 2019 17:43:05 +0000https://www.headstuff.org/?p=76925Women reflect about half of video game consumers, and many are extremely passionate about video gaming. With so many women actively engaged as customers, why are so few involved in the gaming industry? Let’s take a examine some possible reasons for the lack of inclusion and retention of women in video gaming. Lack of Stability […]

]]>Women reflect about half of video game consumers, and many are extremely passionate about video gaming. With so many women actively engaged as customers, why are so few involved in the gaming industry? Let’s take a examine some possible reasons for the lack of inclusion and retention of women in video gaming.

Lack of Stability and Healthcare Access

Overall, video game companies pay less, offer lower job stability, and provide inadequate health benefits when compared to similar industries in the United States. This is a problem for anyone in the industry, but women have a host of other issues stacked against them in the general workforce and in gaming in particular.

Many people in gaming are required to chase jobs all over the country, often moving from coast to coast every few years. The first step to getting more women involved in the gaming industry is making the environment more tolerable for everyone by providing for workers’ basic needs. Most experienced developers don’t want a nap zone or an in-office bar to cope with burnout culture — they want work-life balance.

Lack of Equal Pay in Video Game Development

Most times something becomes adopted by women at large, it usually becomes devalued. Women did the manual calculations allowing NASA into space and received limited recognition. Now, men continue to dominate technical fields, and the skills pay well. You see this pattern in many fields including marketing and publishing.

The same holds true for video games. Women often play and create Facebook and mobile games, and despite the massive success of microtransactions, they still aren’t seen as “real games” — and a “gamer” or “game designer” isn’t someone who plays or designs those types of experiences, respectively. The pay gap exists in general, but it hits even harder for women who look around the office and see they are the only woman there.

The GamerGate Controversy Targets Women

In 2014, Gamergate began targeting women in video game design, feminist video gamers, and even women posting innocuous reviews of video games. This rampant misogyny meant that taking a stand against harassment in gaming could land you on a list resulting in doxxing, rape threats, and hacking attempts.

As video gaming is already competitive (for designers, artists, voice actors, eSports players, and more) and not always the highest paying, Gamergate reduces the incentive for women to become involved in any aspect of video gaming.

This is also an opportunity for video game companies to stand up against harassment: After all, it affects half their players. Women in video gaming are very aware of GamerGate and how the GamerGaters attempted to legitimize hatred and harassment of women in gaming.

Riot Games: An Example of How Game Companies Fail Women

Riot Games, the company behind League of Legends, is notorious for pushing crunch culture in the gaming world. In crunch culture, game developers (who are often overworked and underpaid) are expected to work at maximum levels to meet release dates for new games and patches.

In addition to this, Riot Games failed the women it employs. The women of Riot Games filed a class-action lawsuit against the company, citing a “men-first” environment. Any woman who has worked in video games (or even played League of Legends) knows exactly what this implies: being treated as less, being harassed, and not being compensated enough.

Since gaming companies are often married to short-term goals and production schedules, it’s not always feasible for them to make long-term investments. However, women in gaming positively impact a company’s bottom line:

Women make games that women want to play: Want to get more women playing your game? The easiest way to make a woman-friendly game is to hire women to create it and provide feedback on it.

Women in leadership roles can contribute to the diversity of a workforce.

How Gaming Companies Can Succeed When Recruiting Women

If gaming companies want to recruit and retain women, they should be upfront in their recruitment process. A statement on inclusion is a start, but video game companies can go a step further by inviting women to apply, describing some of the benefits offered. They should promise to provide and implement:

An inclusive work environment

Equal pay

A culture mindful of outside obligations

A real contract, benefits, and a specific human resources contact

An anti-harassment policy and an expectation for all employees to sign it

Additionally, the culture surrounding any video game is also an important consideration in recruitment. If a video game company is known for hosting forums with harassment problems or voice chats without moderation, it’s less likely that women will want to apply to the gaming company.

Video game companies hoping to recruit women also need to recognize that there is a problem and outline their policies or steps to address these issues. Another easy win involves recruiting women from other industries into roles that suit their skill set.

Many video game communities may require community managers, customer service representatives, and administrative professionals. Video game companies can invest in educating employees in support roles in technical or other industry knowledge.

Other industries have shown marked improvement in the number of women in leadership roles, and there are already some notable women in video games. If video game studios can commit to an investment, the return is obvious: a healthier work culture for everyone and games that are easier to market to wider audiences.

]]>https://www.headstuff.org/entertainment/gaming/more-women-gaming-industry/feed/06 of the Worst Mission Types in Gaminghttps://www.headstuff.org/entertainment/gaming/6-of-the-worst-mission-types-in-gaming/
https://www.headstuff.org/entertainment/gaming/6-of-the-worst-mission-types-in-gaming/#respondSun, 19 May 2019 19:54:13 +0000https://www.headstuff.org/?p=76821We all have bad days in our jobs. We all have days where we say “Fuck it” and throw a bunch of crap together and call it work. The same can be said of missions in video games. A great deal of early video games have missions that now seem archaic at best and annoying […]

]]>We all have bad days in our jobs. We all have days where we say “Fuck it” and throw a bunch of crap together and call it work. The same can be said of missions in video games. A great deal of early video games have missions that now seem archaic at best and annoying at worst. I speak, of course, about the time trials, the babysitting, the on-rails turret and more. These missions and levels might just be an example of the writer or programmer saying “Fuck it” and throwing a bunch of overused tools together and calling it a mission. So without further ado here are six of the worst mission types in gaming.

“Tick, tock…”

“Mission failed” pops up on the screen in bold, red letters. I shriek through gritted teeth and another controller becomes plastic shards. The time trial should only exist in games with the word ‘Trial’ in the name. Nowhere else. Why on God’s good earth would I want to race from point A to point B as explosions and other obstacles distract me from the perfect route? I don’t know how many years time trial missions took off my life but I know it’s more than all those cigarettes in my early twenties did.

One good example is Red Dead Redemption an otherwise outstanding game. Upon arrival in Mexico player character John Marston gets drafted into aiding the revolution. This involves transporting dynamite from one place to another. Of course not only is the dynamite extremely volatile and liable to explode if you hit a bump but you’re also under time constraints. RockStar, at least, knew that less patient players would not find this fun so after several failed attempts they graciously let you skip the section of a mission that never should have been in there!

“I ain’t no babysitter.”

Ironically two of my favourite games are essentially long escort missions. Of course whether in BioShock: Infinite or The Last of Us both Elizabeth and Ellie, respectively, are more than capable of looking after themselves. This leaves player characters Booker and Joel free to run, shoot and loot to their hearts content. But once we did step outside these games the cracks in the system begin to appear. The incompetent AI, the vulnerable, idiotic bullet sponges you’re meant to babysit. It’s enough to drive a man to a life of solitude.

Controversial opinion but if the characters that are so important to the mission can’t protect themselves maybe they were never that important to begin with. In video games only the strong survive. The weak perish and are crushed underfoot like ants becoming the building blocks so that DOOM guy and B. J Blaskowicz can ascend to even greater heights.

Trainspotting

No not the movie. Yes the on-rails sections of video games. This is a personal pet peeve but shooting zombies from a mine cart or locust from a mine cart or necromorphs from a space mine cart was never all that fun. The idea of being on rails was always very limiting and confined. Surely the idea of playing a video game especially a shooter is supposed to invoke the feeling of being powerful not trapped in an uncontrollable, rickety box that’s assailed from all sides. It flies in the face of everything DOOM guy stands for!

Kill This, Collect This, Destroy This.

Yeah I’m looking at you Far Cry. When every objective is the same it essentially means that every mission is the same, Regardless of setting, enemy type or handicap every variant on the kill, collect, destroy mission type eventually becomes rote. It’s a formula that works for maybe the first ten hours after which only the dedicated players are left and and who gives a fuck about them, right?

This is a wider criticism of both the Far Cry games and the open world game as a whole. If you can’t make your objectives or missions interesting within the concept of this vast, sprawling world then maybe the world doesn’t deserve to exist. The worst thing a game can be is boring and what makes them boring is not glitches or bugs but the sense of “I’ve done this countless times before”.

“The Sword of the Stormbringer is broken, fix it.”

Why is every legendary sword, helmet or shield broken? If it’s so legendary how’d it break? Also why do I have to trek across half of Skyrim or Mordor to find the blade before hoofing it back? I’m a reasonable, simple man. I like my coffee hot, my beer cold and my damn swords whole! It’s not too much to ask. Sure “reforging the sacred blade” sounds cool but why do I have to spend a full hour getting to that point?

The legendary sword Andúril, broken if not for Aragorn’s cheat codes. Source.

The answers to the above questions, much like the breaking of Andúril, are lost to the annals of legend. We can’t fix what’s been done (unless it’s a broken sword) but we can prevent it from happening again. If the sword or the mace or the codpiece is the only thing that can save the world and it’s broken I say let the world burn.

“Stand your ground men! Men? Oh no…”

Hold the Line! No I don’t mean the killer Toto track. I mean the insufferable waves of enemies that throw themselves at you while you defend a generator or a gun placement or an ice cream parlour. In fairness some games would make successful modes out of this like Nazi Zombies in Call of Duty or Horde Mode in Gears of War. Others, did not.

One particularly grating mission in the 2005 version of Star Wars Battlefront II. In the campaign you play as a soldier (or many soldiers it’s never clear) in the 501st Clone Legion. Sent to defend the Wookie home planet of Kashyyyk the Clones are pushed back from the tide line to the beach where they must draw a line in the sand against the Trade Federation’s droid army. For as good a game as Battlefront II is that section of that otherwise decent mission is appalling. Little cover combined with endless waves of droids makes for an almost impossible victory. Star Wars has never been worse. OK maybe the Clone Wars movie was worse.

]]>https://www.headstuff.org/entertainment/gaming/6-of-the-worst-mission-types-in-gaming/feed/0Current Fan Backlashes Began with Mass Effect 3https://www.headstuff.org/entertainment/gaming/current-fan-backlashes-began-with-mass-effect-3/
https://www.headstuff.org/entertainment/gaming/current-fan-backlashes-began-with-mass-effect-3/#commentsThu, 16 May 2019 21:18:03 +0000https://www.headstuff.org/?p=76720A good story deserves a good ending everybody knows that. What most people don’t know is that the stories – whether in games, film or literature – don’t belong to them. Not to mention that one of the core parts of experiencing a story as it unfolds is in not knowing how it ends. When […]

]]>A good story deserves a good ending everybody knows that. What most people don’t know is that the stories – whether in games, film or literature – don’t belong to them. Not to mention that one of the core parts of experiencing a story as it unfolds is in not knowing how it ends. When a good story ends badly people have every right to be upset.

They can complain to friends and to fellow fans online or in real life. They can contact the writers or directors or cast to air their grievances, respectfully I would hope. What they shouldn’t do is campaign, petition and fund raise for a new ending to their favourite film, TV show or game to be made. I speak, of course, about The Last Jedi and Game of Thrones but to understand the visceral reaction to these two media giants we have to look at an older, not-quite-as-giant-but-still-pretty-big media franchise.

The Mass Effect series was an incredibly popular video game franchise. Beginning with Mass Effect in 2007 the series followed an elite human soldier, Commander Shepard, as they fight off a race of synthetic-organic star ships known as the Reapers that are bent on wiping out all life in the galaxy. Mass Effect 2 dealt with the continued threat of the Reapers but factored in political hand-wringing and Cerberus, a clandestine group of human supremacists as well. The stage was set for a galactic throw down in Mass Effect 3 and for nearly the entire game things looked like they were building towards exactly that.

For three games players thought that they were creating an ending incredibly specific to their customised version of Commander Shepard. Saves imported from Mass Effect to Mass Effect 2 to Mass Effect 3 would mean a great deal more as players got to see their impact on a galaxy they had helped shape and in the end a galaxy they had helped save or doom. Player choice mattered to developer BioWare and they had shown that in the likes of Baldur’s Gate, Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic and Dragon Age: Origins. Player choice obviously matters a great deal more to the players.

I won’t spoil anything but Mass Effect 3 essentially gave players the choice of three preset endings. All of a sudden all of those choices they had made didn’t mean shit anymore. All of those people they had saved or killed. The planets laid waste to. The companions lost and gained. That weird race of giant killer bugs you could choose to genocide in the original Mass Effect. All of it, essentially, meant nothing.

Now the processing power, both of the human mind and of the game itself, required to factor in all the choices made across three games totaling a playtime of over a hundred hours is monumental. Especially when you consider that a lot of Mass Effect 3 players and RPG players in general act like capricious elder Gods choosing to save an entire race and then turning around and shooting an old friend in the back. Factoring that kind of sociopathic behaviour into an ending that makes sense is nigh-on impossible. So with that said I understand why BioWare went in the direction they did. I don’t like it but I understand it.

Needless to say most of the players were mad, very mad. Mad enough to petition BioWare to change the ending of Mass Effect 3. Mad enough to fund raise $80,000 in two weeks to pay for the ending to be rewritten and changed. Starting to see a pattern? But that’s not the end of this snafu because BioWare caved to fan pressure. In June 2012, three months after the game’s March release, BioWare released an update of free DLC known as the Extended Cut that expanded upon the three endings players could choose from. It didn’t change many opinions about the endings and it definitely didn’t make anyone happier but it did mark a sea change in consumer-developer relations.

This kind of thing isn’t really new though Mass Effect 3 is the first and best example of this new kind of extremity we’re seeing at the moment. These discussions have happened before. They happened in living rooms and fan clubs and conventions with the likes of Star Trek and Star Wars. They went online with the X-Files and the Star Wars prequels. After The Dark Knight missed out on an Oscar nomination for Best Picture in 2008 the Academy literally changed and expanded the category due to backlash. So it’s not new but it is becoming more and more extreme. We see it in review bombing. We can see it in the attempt to get The Last Jedi and now Game of Thrones remade. We even see it in the harassment of people like Rian Johnson, Leslie Jones, Daisy Ridley and Brie Larson online.

Now I have my problems with The Last Jedi, namely that incredibly slow chase through space and that bizarre trip to the casino. I haven’t watched Game of Thrones since season four but I know everything that’s happened because people seem to care a lot less about spoilers for that than they do about the Avengers. I’m not saying that fans don’t deserve an input into the series’ they love. I am saying that loving something can quickly turn into convincing themselves that they have a claim of ownership over the series.

Eventually when the series or game or film does something wrong in their eyes they’ll go from claiming ownership to hating it and demand it be rewritten to serve their desires. That, above all else, should not happen. It invalidates years of hard work and not only that it invalidates the whole idea of storytelling itself.

We’re allowed to be disappointed in the things we love. Mass Effect 3’s ending still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. I didn’t spend three games putting the moves on Dr Liara T’soni for no real emotional pay off. But I also didn’t donate to a fund raiser or demand that the ending be rewritten. Even at 17 I understood that the creator’s vision needed to be respected no matter how unhappy I was with it.

As the petition to rewrite season 8 of Game of Thrones reaches half a million signatures I think it’s worth considering what the alternatives are rather than the absolutely ludicrous and shockingly short-sighted desire to rewrite it. That’s without mentioning all the legal ramifications that come with it. I understand your frustration but not your methods. Nothing good can come of this in either the short or long term.

]]>https://www.headstuff.org/entertainment/gaming/current-fan-backlashes-began-with-mass-effect-3/feed/2The Greatest Video Game Action Sequenceshttps://www.headstuff.org/entertainment/gaming/the-greatest-video-game-action-sequences/
https://www.headstuff.org/entertainment/gaming/the-greatest-video-game-action-sequences/#respondSat, 11 May 2019 18:29:10 +0000https://www.headstuff.org/?p=76516There are plenty of video games that don’t need a good action sequence to get their story or intention across but that’s not why we’re here today. Today we’re here to talk, in the words of a great man, about “Babes, bullets and bombs!” Well maybe not babes and maybe Duke Nukem was never that […]

]]>There are plenty of video games that don’t need a good action sequence to get their story or intention across but that’s not why we’re here today. Today we’re here to talk, in the words of a great man, about “Babes, bullets and bombs!” Well maybe not babes and maybe Duke Nukem was never that great of a man but I digress. Let’s talk action. Let’s talk shooters. Let’s talk swords and sorcery, shooters, sprites and the Souls series. These are the greatest video game action sequences ever.

Gears of War never shirked away from the violent side of its action oriented gameplay. Shotgun blasts turned your Locust enemies into sides of raw beef. A well-placed sniper bullet could sever limbs. Your main assault rifle came with a chainsaw bayonet. But nowhere else was Gears of War’s gratuitous violence more present than in the belly of a giant worm. The Riftworm is being used by the subterranean Locust to sink Jacinto, the last human city on the planet Harvest. Playing as granite voiced beefcake Marcus Fenix players must lead Delta Squad into the belly of the beast and kill it from the inside.

This sequence is not without its casualties as Benjamin Carmine – brother to Anthony Carmine from the original Gears of War – dies after being attacked by the Riftworm’s intestinal parasites. The sequence has you dodge digestive juices, the aforementioned parasites as well as run from a blood flood. The action sequence is not just the most memorable in Gears of War 2 but one of the best of the entire series.

Death from Above – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

On-rails sections are becoming an increasing rarity in video games these days. Before then it was just as rare to find a good one but Modern Warfare’s AC-130 gunship mission is one for the ages. Playing as an unnamed thermal imaging operator players are tasked with protecting Soap, Captain Price and Ghost from advancing Russian insurgents midway through the campaign. It’s a stark mission not just because of the limited controls and monochrome thermal imaging but because of how closely it skews toward actual modern warfare.

The days of pitched battles and massive cavalry charges are mostly over. Instead we have small strike teams, drawn out invasions and city levelling airstrikes. For as much as we play as Soap and Sergeant Paul Jackson in Modern Warfare their kind of warfare isn’t really what modern warfare looks like. It’s bombing bases and city blocks into oblivion before the likes of Soap and Jackson are sent in. As that unnamed operator we kill tens of white dots running across a map. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare may as well have been propaganda but never before has a game come so close to dissecting the inhumanity of modern warfare.

The Assault on Truth – Halo 3

As confusing and awkwardly political the first Halo trilogy’s story was those games knew how to pull off action sequences. Whether it was giving the Covenant back their bomb, tracking down heathen splinter cells as the Arbiter or taking down a Scarab the Halo series knew how to deliver thrills. Halo 3 was no exception and its high point was an all-out assault on the Citadel guarding the Prophet of Truth. The culmination of the alliance between the human UNSC and the Covenant Separatists as well as the biggest and best battle in the first trilogy this action sequence is as well known for its open-ended design as it is for its scale.

Facing off against not one but two Scarab walkers as well as a horde of Brutes, Grunts, Jackals and Hunters players, as series stalwart Master Chief, must take all of these down before moving on. This battle comes at the end of one of the trilogies longest levels and it leaves it up to you as to how you want to tackle it. Players can take to the skies in a hornet and shoot out the Scarabs legs while being accosted by Banshees. Alternatively you can go in by Warthog or by foot and fight your way viciously to where you need to go. It’s a pulse-pounding, visceral action sequence only complimented by Halo 3’s incredible graphics and bombastic score.

The Ice Planet Hoth – Star Wars Battlefront II

No not that Star Wars Battlefront II. The other one without the loot boxes and with decent gameplay. Yes I’m old. The old mid-00s Star Wars games might be relics of another age but the likes of KOTOR, Republic Commando and the two Battlefront games are the best Star Warsgames to have ever been made. As much as KOTOR and Republic Commando endeavored to tell their own very good stories the Battlefront games were always a bigger draw. Being able to fight not only on Tatooine, Bespin and Hoth but in space as well was a huge treat for any Star Wars fan. Still it was the surface battle on Hoth that was the real showstopper.

Hoth had the feel of a World War I battle but supplanted with lasers, star fighters and walking tanks. Whether you were a rebel trooper deep in the trenches or a pilot flying around the legs of an AT-AT it felt like you were right in the middle of it all with Han, Luke and Leia. The best part of the Battlefront games was that they gave you the chance to fight as the bad guys and so assaulting the hangar base as a snow trooper or ploughing across ice fields in an AT-AT felt just as good as aiding in the Rebellion’s escape did. It’s Star Wars in a nutshell and without the micro-transaction.

Iudex Gundyr – Dark Souls III

The tutorial of Dark Souls III is relatively short compared to its predecessor. The basics of combat and movement are introduced and so are the vital crystal lizards if you have an eye for secrets. One thing the opening moments of the Souls games have never succeeded at are their first bosses. Yeah the appearance of the Asylum Demon in Dark Souls is relatively surprising and Dark Souls II’s open-ended starting areas was a good change of pace but neither ever set the stage for their crowning jewels: the bosses.

Iudex Gundyr, roll with the name, at first appears to be a stationary suit of armour with a massive coiled sword thrust through it. Upon removing the sword – a necessity for lighting the bonfire in Firelink Shrine – the suit comes to life. Cursed to constantly test those wishing to link the flames in Lordran Iudex is an agile, large and capable fighter. The fight with him is an excellent introduction to Dark Souls III as it sets the stage for one of the things the series is known best for: creative and challenging boss fights.

The Climb – God of War III

No other game will let you slice through the exposed tendons in Mother Earth’s (or Gaia for the nerds out there) hand and watch her topple into the ocean from the slopes of Mt. Olympus. God of War III is one of a kind because in that same level you put out Poseidon’s eyes, snap his neck and dump him into the roiling waters below too. From disemboweling Hades to impaling Hephaestus on his own anvil to using the sun god Helios’ head as a lamp God of War III goes from extreme to extreme like it’s nothing.

It’s opening is what sets up the rest of the game to follow though. Kratos – eternal troll to the Greek pantheon – slaughters his way through an army of skeletons, harpies and a giant seahorse with crabs legs just to kill dear old dad Zeus. The Ghost of Sparta’s commitment to bloodshed is admirable even if his attitudes to his supposed allies are not. Still if you want to make an omelette (or topple the gods) you have to break a few eggs.

Checking In – Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Story-wise the train sequence in Uncharted 2 is probably the one to put in here but the fight (and flight) through a Nepalese city is a masterpiece of game direction and design. In pursuit of the legendary Cintamani Stone explorer Nathan Drake catches up to Serbian war criminal Zoran Lazarevi? and his mercenary army in Nepal. Drake fights his way through the crumbling streets of the city through to a hotel that is rapidly being ripped apart by Lazarevi?’s helicopter gunship.

As the camera circles hotel following Drake’s ascent crucial pieces of the hotel’s facade fall away allowing players to see exactly where Drake is and directing him exactly where he needs to go. Water pipes spout and snap giving Drake convenient handholds to launch himself off of even as they fall away seconds later. The action sequence feels like a level in Mario where the screen is moving almost as fast as the player. A second too late or too early means death. Uncharted 2 is all about timing knowing when to shoot, when to jump and when to dodge. It’s why the Uncharted series is considered the best adventure franchise since Indiana Jones.

]]>https://www.headstuff.org/entertainment/gaming/the-greatest-video-game-action-sequences/feed/0How Video Games Are Raising Awareness of HIVhttps://www.headstuff.org/entertainment/gaming/how-video-games-are-raising-awareness-of-hiv/
https://www.headstuff.org/entertainment/gaming/how-video-games-are-raising-awareness-of-hiv/#respondFri, 10 May 2019 08:25:39 +0000https://www.headstuff.org/?p=76411We know that video games have been used in ways that better the world, despite claims by some that they only contribute to things like violence and laziness. In fact, schools have begun using video games in their curriculums. This has been helpful for students, enabling them to learn through experience and engaging them in […]

]]>We know that video games have been used in ways that better the world, despite claims by some that they only contribute to things like violence and laziness. In fact, schools have begun using video games in their curriculums. This has been helpful for students, enabling them to learn through experience and engaging them in ways that traditional teaching cannot.

But video games are also becoming an answer to serious issues, stepping into arenas that haven’t been tackled as efficiently as we would hope in the past. One subject, in particular, is considered taboo, but has had a major impact on many of us or our loved ones. It’s time to talk about the AIDS crisis and HIV prevention.

The Need for Education

You may have had someone tell you that AIDS comes from the LGBTQ+ community and imply that it’s simply a result of their sexual orientation. However, the facts reveal that speech like this is simply not grounded in reality. One’s sexual preferences aren’t causes of HIV, but a lack of safe sex practices can be. Education about safe sex starts with orientation.

“They’re not all fun and games — they can potentially save lives.”

Don’t get it wrong — safe sex education is lacking for straight people too. But it’s lacking much more for non-heteronormative communities. Lack of proper safe-sex education is a significant reason that some parts of the population are more at-risk than others for STDs — hence the higher rates of HIV in the LGBTQ+ community. The more awareness, the lower the STD rate.

Thus, video games are being created in order to educate those who haven’t had access to resources to teach them about safe sexual practices. For instance, a program called “Keep It Up!” uses video games as a way to teach men how to have safe sex with other men. Something like this in a public school could be extraordinary for reducing STI and STD rates in the gay community, though the program isn’t widely used yet.

Interactive Teaching

Despite some of us not hearing about it until now, video games aimed at curbing the STD rate aren’t exactly the newest kid on the block. About 10 years ago, the U.S. government and Warner Bros collaborated on Pamoja Mtaani (aka “Together In the Hood”), a game that was (poorly) targeted at teens, complete with a hip hop soundtrack and street imagery, supposedly similar to Grand Theft Auto. However, the purpose was different than that of GTA, in that it was created to raise risk perception for teens about HIV. Back to our modern day, developers are working hard to create better games to further safe-sex awareness.

The thing that gives video games such great potential for sex education is their interactive components. Writing for Engadget, Timothy J. Seppala gave readers a great example in his coverage of a game called I’m Positive. This is a game that allows players to simulate the realities of living with HIV.

In Seppala’s opinion, video games are the perfect avenue for such an educational experience. “Video games have a way of reaching their audience on a level that no other medium can replicate,” he wrote. “You’re active and engaged, driving the action and narrative forward with your interactions.” Because of the interactive nature of video games, players are put in a situation in which they’re left to make wise choices for victory, which can translate to improved real-world skills and life choices.

The Aftereffects of Awareness

Education goes hand-in-hand with awareness. It makes people aware of the reality that is HIV, how easy it is to contract it, and how to avoid doing so. It also makes it a more pressing issue for those who are in positions to take action when the disease is being more widely talked about.

Because of general HIV awareness, professionals are putting effort into actually combating the disease instead of looking the other way. For instance, maybe you have heard of the drug Truvada, a prescription medication which significantly reduces viral levels and the chances of spreading it in those living with HIV. Well, as of last year it was the only FDA-approved medication for fighting HIV. Due to increased awareness, though, scientists have been hard at work and the FDA has been able to approve drugs like Juluca and Dovato as well.

So in short, when awareness spreads, things get done. And while HIV isn’t a comfortable subject for anyone, it’s well worth the conversation and the education put into stopping it. As it turns out, video games are an efficient means of doing so.

Hopefully games will soon be used more commonly as vehicles for treating the HIV crisis. I’m Positive was even put in the top 5 CDC- and HHS-sponsored Games for Health Game Jam in 2014 because of its potential! Video games are great teaching tools due to their interactive nature, and awareness spurs on change. The next time someone calls video games a waste of time, you can point to transformative games like this. They’re not all fun and games — they can potentially save lives.

]]>https://www.headstuff.org/entertainment/gaming/how-video-games-are-raising-awareness-of-hiv/feed/0Detective Pikachu | A Shockingly Good Video Game Adaptationhttps://www.headstuff.org/entertainment/film/detective-pikachu-review/
https://www.headstuff.org/entertainment/film/detective-pikachu-review/#respondFri, 10 May 2019 05:00:07 +0000https://www.headstuff.org/?p=76291Video game movies have always had a rough track record, particularly when translated to live-action. At best, most have been sub par and even the ones that are remembered fondly are mostly enjoyed ironically. Pokémon has had more than its fair share of animated films based on the TV show that have released consistently since […]

]]>Video game movies have always had a rough track record, particularly when translated to live-action. At best, most have been sub par and even the ones that are remembered fondly are mostly enjoyed ironically. Pokémon has had more than its fair share of animated films based on the TV show that have released consistently since the late 90s to varying degrees of success. Never before had a live-action movie based off the game’s universe been done, despite realistic fan renderings of Pokémon and fake trailers being made over the years. However, the day has finally come when Poké fans can see all their favourite pocket monsters officially on the big screen, but not in the way they may have envisioned since childhood.

Detective Pikachu is based off of the 3DS spin-off of the same name, that took focus away from trainers, battling and raising Pokémon to become the very best like no one ever was. Instead, it focused on a young boy and his coffee addict talking Pikachu solving crimes and mysteries. A novel concept and breath of fresh air for an admittedly repetitive series, this has translated to the screen far better than you may have anticipated at its initial announcement.

The film stars Justice Smith as Tim, a 21-year-old whose estranged father has seemingly died in a car accident. Upon visiting his father’s home in Ryme City, a haven where humans and pokémon live side by side with no capturing, training or battling. He encounters a talking Pikachu, voiced by Ryan Reynolds, that only he can understand. The creature tells him his father’s death seems far more suspicious than the police would imply. Together they set off with a spunky young journalist named Lucy (Kathryn Newton) and her partner Psyduck to uncover the mystery of Tim’s father’s disappearance.

Right out the gate, this film is going to have Pokémon fans cracking smiles left and right. Ryme City looks gorgeous, especially at night when doused in its neon glow. Watching how a regular world strikingly similar to our own incorporates with the franchise’s odd creatures is a massive treat for fans. Machamps direct traffic around sleeping Snorlaxs. Squirtle helps the fire department in a nice call back to the TV show’s Squirtle Squad. All in all, it’s great world building.

Each and every creation looks terrific and translates to live-action perfectly. From the fluffy to the imposing there’s not a bad looker in the bunch, with a wide selection of Pokémon from multiple generations of the games. The amount of times you’ll say aww or giggle to yourself just from seeing them walk or make sounds is more than you’d expect. On top of that, the film is consistently funny, with Poké fans and general audiences equally catered for.

Pikachu is adorable. Ryan Reynolds manages to make him feel unique and not like a family friendly Deadpool in a fluffy yellow body. He really becomes one with the performance as it goes on. You don’t see Reynolds when you see Pikachu, commendable for such a big actor who’s popping up everywhere lately.

Justice Smith gives a ranged and emotionally compelling performance. Rather than being a bland self insert or exposition machine to explain to non fans what a Greninja is, his Tim is well-fleshed out. He has nuances that add to his personality and there’s a level of subtlety when alluding to his childhood past and what lead him away from his dream of training Pokémon. Kathryn Newton brings her character’s eccentric yet determined journalistic nature out in a fun way. The two have a romance angle to their friendship that seems rather forced as if only added because that’s what happens to male and female leads in kid’s movies. That said, their chemistry as friends works perfectly fine.

The film isn’t without other issues. The third act features some plot contrivances, including something vital to the villains’ plan that isn’t acknowledged until the exact scene it takes place in. It’s nothing to drag the whole enterprise down. But it did raise an eyebrow.

The film’s plot is also a tad simplistic. The detective work becomes downplayed as the story goes on. This is on account of the use of holograms, whereby the trio reconstruct scenes vital to the case, preventing DETECTIVE Pikachu from solving much. It’s a device that enables the movie to blatantly spell out to the audience what happened, as if Pikachu and Tim finding clues and cracking the case for themselves wouldn’t have conveyed the message as clearly. That said, there are plenty of twists and turns, some of which I legitimately did not see coming. For a mystery film aimed at kids, that’s worth praising.

General audiences unfamiliar with Pokémon may get lost at points. While the film does a decent job of quickly explaining the franchise’s mythos without dwelling on it, there will be parts where they just have to roll with the punches. But Detective Pikachu isn’t made for them. It’s for the fans. They will find it a fun and joyful ride through the Pokémon world. It isn’t amazing but it hit what it strived for pretty nobly. Hopefully, it will lead to some more adventures in this universe.

Detective Pikachu is out now.

]]>https://www.headstuff.org/entertainment/film/detective-pikachu-review/feed/0Game Stop? The Death of the Retail Game Store.https://www.headstuff.org/entertainment/gaming/game-stop-the-death-of-the-retail-game-store/
https://www.headstuff.org/entertainment/gaming/game-stop-the-death-of-the-retail-game-store/#respondThu, 09 May 2019 16:35:22 +0000https://www.headstuff.org/?p=76403Video games are one of the most popular entertainment sources in the world, with the gaming industry bringing in an estimated $116 billion last year. Video games have been popular in American homes since the 1980s, and the fascination has only continued to grow thanks to a wide variety of game options, consoles, and technology […]

]]>Video games are one of the most popular entertainment sources in the world, with the gaming industry bringing in an estimated $116 billion last year. Video games have been popular in American homes since the 1980s, and the fascination has only continued to grow thanks to a wide variety of game options, consoles, and technology that have made playing games more interactive than ever.

It’s not just the U.S. that has an obsession with gaming. Globalization is a huge factor in the world of video games. It has allowed people from all over the world to connect, and it has taken away some of the stigmas that were attached to “gamers” for many years – assuming they were just “nerds” or that video games were nothing more than a lazy-day activity.

While the gaming industry shows no signs of slowing down, how gamers are getting their content seems to be changing. Generation Z (those born in 1997 and beyond) are the next big group of game purchasers, and they way they purchase and play video games is different than the generations before them. Specifically, they’re more likely to shop online for a new game than go to a brick-and-mortar store. As this generation and the next drift more toward online purchases, can we expect retail video game stores to disappear?

Amazonian Expansion

Why are more people turning away from retail shops and buying their games online? There are several reasons, but the biggest one is convenience. While shopping online is nothing new, it’s become easier than ever thanks to smartphones and the wide availability of different products. Social media advertising has also contributed to this, with things like Facebook ads and boosted posts contributing to conversions.

E-commerce makes it incredibly easy to shop for and find the exact product you’re looking for in a matter of minutes. When you can do that from the palm of your hand, it’s easier to buy more, and not waste time. Again, because Generation Z is so “plugged in,” they know how easy it is to shop on their phones, so they’re more likely to go that route when it comes to games.

“In 2018, retail e-commerce sales in the United States alone reached over $500 billion.”

Aside from convenience, online shopping is often more eco-friendly. This generation is aware of the problems facing our world, like global warming and pollution. So, as companies start to take the initiative to go green, people are more willing to make changes, too. When you shop online, you reduce the amount of resources needed to get you the game you’re looking for. Yes, transportation plays a factor in carbon emissions, but companies are getting smarter about the way they package and ship products.

Finally, online shopping is often cheaper. With no overhead to worry about, companies can offer games at a lower price than GameStop trying to make a profit from their brick-and-mortar store. On top of that, you don’t have to wait in long lines to get the latest game. No waiting and getting the game at a lower price? It’s easy to see why the next generation prefers digital shopping.

The Future of E-Commerce

In 2018, retail e-commerce sales in the United States alone reached over $500 billion. So, while the first online transaction may have happened many years ago, it’s shown no signs of slowing down ever since.

Amazon alone counts for over 50% of e-commerce growth, because it takes advantage of what people are looking for in products online. It’s easy to use, it can be done on a phone, and it has just about every type of product you can think of.

When it comes to video games, the facts are similar. In 2013, sales of digital video games started to exceed the number of disc sales. In 2016, digital sales made up 74% of all video games purchased. As more video game manufacturers and production companies take note of these trends, they’re likely to start introducing games solely online, or for digital download.

Brick and Mortar Demolition

Unfortunately, due to the popularity of online shopping, brick-and-mortar stores have taken a hit. GameStop is one of the most recognizable retail video game stores in the world, but even their physical sales have started to drop.

Recently, GameStop reported that its fourth-quarter sales fell 7.1% compared to the previous year. Retailers like Amazon have made it easy to buy games with just one click, making it harder for GameStop to appeal to a younger generation of shoppers.

With companies like Google bringing up the idea of video game streaming services, brick-and-mortar video game stores will likely continue to struggle and could become obsolete. GameStop has toyed with the idea of going up for sale before, and it’s likely they’ll do it again if they want to salvage the company. But, they’ll need to come up with a way to appeal to a younger generation who is more interested in digital games and online purchasing than stepping into a store.

]]>https://www.headstuff.org/entertainment/gaming/game-stop-the-death-of-the-retail-game-store/feed/0Days Gone is a Frankenstein Game with an Identity Crisishttps://www.headstuff.org/entertainment/gaming/days-gone-is-a-frankenstein-game-with-an-identity-crisis/
https://www.headstuff.org/entertainment/gaming/days-gone-is-a-frankenstein-game-with-an-identity-crisis/#respondSat, 04 May 2019 14:39:58 +0000https://www.headstuff.org/?p=76162Just over a year ago i wrote an article on Days Gone – a survival horror action game in the zombie mode. Back then I was worried we’d seen too much of this kind of story in games and in TV, movies and literature as well. Turns out I was right but Days Gone has […]

]]>Just over a year ago i wrote an article on Days Gone – a survival horror action game in the zombie mode. Back then I was worried we’d seen too much of this kind of story in games and in TV, movies and literature as well. Turns out I was right but Days Gone has more problems than being just another game about a grizzled man with a supposed heart of gold. Days Gone has an identity crisis in terms of its world, it’s story and its game design. It’s the Frankenstein’s Monster of the modern AAA game with every strand of its borrowed identity threatening to pull it apart at the seams.

Days Gone is set roughly two years after a virus devastated the world. Most humans have been turned into balding, shrieking and biting creatures known as Freakers. In the middle of all this is Deacon St. John and his friend Boozer, two bikers with dreams of heading north to escape the Freakers, gangs of marauders and the Ripper death cult that inhabit the wilderness of Washington state. In order to get himself and Boozer back on the road Deacon must deal with the Freakers, the gangs and his own tragic past.

In short it’s nothing we haven’t heard before. Nothing is truly special about Days Gone. It adds nothing new to the survival game formula. From its combat to its crafting to its characters Days Gone feels like its ticking boxes rather than trying to add something new. The two biggest influences on Days Gone whether implicit or explicit are The Last of Us and the Red Dead Redemption series. Days Gone draws it’s world from that of The Last of Us or it tries to at least. The fragile survivor camps. The neo-fascist remnants of the American government. The mutating virus.

The open world of Days Gone is really more of a hindrance than a help. Any side jobs Joel and Ellie ever did in The Last of Us were in service of their larger goal to deliver Ellie safely to the Firefly rebels. In Days Gone the side missions and bounty jobs picked up from various camps do nothing to advance a story that feels stuck in the mud from the get-go. The story missions involving the fragments of the American government are the worst part of the game. Essentially stealth missions chock full of exposition they force you to sneakily follow a government researcher flanked by unkillable soldiers. It’s an annoyance at first before it reveals itself as a bizarrely stupid design choice.

I will admit that at first the hordes of Freakers are impressive to look at and can be especially – if briefly – frightening when stumbled upon in a cave or abandoned mine. But 30 hours in these ravenous swarms of hundreds have been revealed to be easily avoidable and, so far, entirely optional to fight. Here’s the thing: massive hoards of flesh hungry monsters are nothing new. Just because they’re in the context of a game with a story doesn’t make them any more impressive than they were in Left 4 Dead or the newly released World War Z.

“I took no real pleasure in writing this just as I take no real pleasure in playing Days Gone.”

But the other influence, Red Dead Redemption, is at first more subtle. The Red Dead Redemption games were, by their very design, quite slow games. Days Gone is slow too but like its biker characters riding the cluttered, cracked highways you can tell it desperately wants to open up the throttle. Red Dead Redemption and its sequel were tragic stories unfolding at a leisurely, exact pace about doomed men leading a doomed lifestyle. I can sense that Days Gone wants to tell a similar story. A story about how no one can survive alone in the Freaker infested wilderness.

Red Dead Redemption 2 got its story across in every facet of its design. From the firing and cocking of your weapons to the animations dedicated to simple busywork to the way Arthur Morgan took care of his horse. Deacon St. John shares a relationship with his bike in much the same way Arthur does with his horse. Both require attention, fuel and repair. The thing is Arthur’s horse is a living creature capable of expressing pain and affection. When it dies near the end of the game Arthur runs back to it in the middle of a firefight and whispers his thanks as it dies. It’s affecting and, if you’ve played the game right, it’s a culmination of the beautiful, brutal world Rockstar has built.

As Deacon traversed the volcanic deserts and wooded slopes of Washington state his bike became as much of an annoyance as it was a form of transport. Driving it feels good and when I came upon a stretch of road that wasn’t cluttered up with abandoned vehicles or trees I let that massive engine roar. Until I ran out of fuel or a marauder trap nearly took my head off. In Red Dead Redemption 2 the in-game work of tending to my horse felt worthwhile. I was building a relationship with a responsive, emotive animal. In Days Gone when I fix up my bike or pump it full of fuel it just sits there, unmoving and ungrateful. Better to leave out the system of taking care of something than to half-ass it.

Everything in Days Gone gives a sense of deja vú of playing a better game. It’s frenetic, visceral combat was nothing I hadn’t enjoyed in The Last of Us. The same goes for its practically plot-less story and hard-bitten characters. Against all odds, even when I wrote that article last year, I was hoping Days Gone would at least be good. That there would be something more than the Freaker swarms that the developers made such a big deal out of as if they’d never heard of Left 4 Dead. Instead Days Gone may as well be The Colour Beige: The Game. I took no real pleasure in writing this just as I take no real pleasure in playing Days Gone.

]]>https://www.headstuff.org/entertainment/gaming/days-gone-is-a-frankenstein-game-with-an-identity-crisis/feed/0Inner Konflict: A Fan’s Perspective on Krunch in Mortal Kombat 11https://www.headstuff.org/entertainment/gaming/fans-perspective-krunch-mortal-kombat-11/
https://www.headstuff.org/entertainment/gaming/fans-perspective-krunch-mortal-kombat-11/#respondWed, 01 May 2019 08:00:39 +0000https://www.headstuff.org/?p=75997The ever-growing instances of game developers speaking out on having to work absurdly and dangerously long hours (i.e. crunch) to reach demanding deadlines was for a while only seen with games I had no interest in playing. My strong distrust in EA as a company already dissuaded me from the publisher’s Bioware-developed titles Anthem and […]

]]>The ever-growing instances of game developers speaking out on having to work absurdly and dangerously long hours (i.e. crunch) to reach demanding deadlines was for a while only seen with games I had no interest in playing. My strong distrust in EA as a company already dissuaded me from the publisher’s Bioware-developed titles Anthem and Mass Effect: Andromeda well before allegations of the severe crunch hours were made by Bioware staff. As not being part of Fortnite’s targeted demographic means that similar allegations made against Epic Games’ development of the massive Battle Royale shooter came as no major shocker to me. However the “crunch epidemic” has hit home for me in a franchise I actually have played and enjoyed as a fighting game fan.

Since 2011, NetherRealm Studios (NRS) have had one of the most consistent track records for releasing a new fighting game every two years, those being from the Mortal Kombat and Injustice series. Each entry in the series under NRS’ development has also received post-release content (primarily DLC characters) for often up to a year after the game’s initial launch.

I have wondered in the past how NRS were as consistent as they were with meeting deadlines; which I simply believed was down to good organisation, quality control and teamwork. A recent article from PC Gamer proved that mindset to be naive in hindsight, with former NRS staff members speaking out about crunch hours as severe as those at Bioware or Epic Games.

It’s not just the recently released Mortal Kombat 11 that’s guilty as well, it’s been a trend for NRS since the company’s inception and development of Mortal Kombat 9 in 2010 to 2011. For example Isaac Torres, who was a QA Tester for Injustice in 2012-2013, claimed he “crunched for about 4 months straight and was regularly doing 90-100 hour weeks and worked every single day” in the PC Gamer article.

Torres also comments that “The developers at NetherRealm are some of the best in the world. They deserve to work on a game that has a schedule that actually fits within a reasonable amount of time instead of crunching a year’s worth of work into 6 months”. Although there is nothing illegal with these crunch hours, a lack of unions and workers rights groups means that this can be potentially be exploited by employers; producing deadlines that are impossible to achieve within a weekly 40-hour shift.

“My motivation to play and overall enjoyment of Mortal Kombat 11 has been stifled somewhat by the reveals of the crunch hours.”

Upon reading the PC Gamer article, I have since had a conflicted attitude towards NRS. In the run-up to the release of Mortal Kombat 11, there would be a weekly stream of “Kombat Kast”, where a trio of hosts for the NRS development team would showcase and talk about a playable character in the upcoming game. The Kombat Kast hosts always showed a good deal of passion and interest in their work, coming across as big Mortal Kombat fans themselves.

Since the reveal of the NRS crunch hours however, I find myself questioning how genuine the Kombat Kast is; “How aware are these hosts of the crunch hours? Are they as affected by them as other NRS staff? Do they even care?” I apply these questions now as well even when seeing Ed Boon promote Mortal Kombat 11, who has been the most recognisable face for the Mortal Kombat brand as one of the
original creators of the series.

As a fighting game fan, I also enjoy competing in games at offline tournaments and events. Ireland’s main fighting game event, Celtic Throwdown is one of the handful of competitive events chosen to be part of the Mortal Kombat 11 “Pro Kompetition” Tour. While I never been as driven to compete with Mortal Kombat as I have with other fighting games anyway, my motivation to play and overall enjoyment of Mortal Kombat 11 has been stifled somewhat by the reveals of the crunch hours as well.

That being said, the on-goings with the NRS crunch hours and their own E-Sports division of their games could easily have little to no relation with one another. I certainly do not wish however to be that person who condemns those still play NRS titles competitively and host events for them as some sort of protest, and hope that the Pro Kompetition event goes well for Celtic Throwdown all the same.

So what happens from here? Will this speaking out from NRS staff change things for the company in the future? Although Mortal Kombat 11 has come under scrutiny from reviewers for it’s very grind-heavy loot system, the critical reception is a non-issue if the game still sells as well as previous NRS titles.

Unless there is massive shift in workers’ rights for video game developers, change will be all the less likely as well. So, should we see a possible Injustice 3 coming out in Spring 2021, we can assume it’ll be done by the same “crunch” process at NetherRealm Studios, for 10 years running out no less.